Support for effective and inclusive trade unions in Bangladesh

Despite notable progress since the Rana Plaza tragedy in April 2013, decent work challenges persist. For trade unions these are most prevalent in the form of continued lack of Freedom of Association (FoA) and Collective Bargaining (CB) rights, as well as weak national and limited sector tripartite institutions for social dialogue and the absence of a national social protection system. In June 2022, the ITUC Global Rights Index rated Bangladesh amongst the ten worst countries in the world where labour rights are not guaranteed (5 – no guarantee of rights) pointing to regressive laws, obstacles to union formation, and brutal repression of strikes. Additionally, the continued effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the global fiscal crisis risk increasing levels of poverty and the general decline of decent work. The 4th Industrial revolution and associated changes in the world of work demands a workforce that adapts its skills to increased automation, digitalization, the emerging platform economy, and artificial intelligence. The emergence of new sectors of work particularly requires stronger organisation and voice by workers affected by these changes. The project “Support of effective and inclusive trade unions in Bangladesh” is a targeted response by ILO and worker’s organisations to build capacity of trade unions to effectively participate in labour reforms and support decent work. The project ambition is to contribute to the following overall development objective: Improved democratic and representative trade union capacity for sustainable and effective tripartite social dialogue Accordingly, this project does this by supporting two overall outcomes: ¿ Outcome 1: Inclusive and effective trade union organisations through increased number of women and youth leaders ¿ Outcome 2: Improved collective bargaining capacity of trade unions through social dialogues

Project symbol

BGD/23/01/DEU

Admin unit

CO-Dhaka

Start date

01/05/2023

End date

31/12/2024

Total allocation

1101292

Total expenditure

Status

Active

1037143

Development Partners

Germany, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Country/Countries

Bangladesh

Outcomes

Outcome 2: Strong, representative and influential tripartite constituents and effective social dialogue